Gaza, Oct. 1 (SANA) Hundreds of Palestinians attended a funeral in Gaza City on Thursday for 105 Palestinians whose remains were recovered from beneath the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment in 2023, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Families and local residents performed funeral prayers over the remains, which were wrapped in Palestinian flags before being taken to the Martyrs Cemetery in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City, for burial.
Local rescue teams, assisted by Egyptian technical teams and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), recovered the remains from destroyed residential buildings, WAFA reported.
A day earlier, families held a farewell ceremony at the site where the victims were killed, lighting candles in their memory.
Mamdouh Atallah, who attended the funeral, said recovery efforts began about 20 days ago with the participation of Civil Defense teams and Egyptian assistance.
He said the remains were recovered from beneath 16 residential buildings in the Al-Taj area that were struck on Oct. 25, 2023. The buildings contained 138 apartments.
Atallah said around 450 Palestinians, including children, women and elderly people, were killed in the attack. So far, the remains of 105 people, including 37 children and 38 women, have been recovered, while others remain beneath the rubble.
The figures were presented during a Civil Defense press conference attended by representatives of around 20 families, who called for additional heavy equipment to continue the recovery operation.
According to Civil Defense officials cited by WAFA, rescue teams need 10 excavators, 30 bulldozers and 100 heavy loaders to clear debris and recover remains.
Civil Defense estimates that more than 8,000 bodies remain beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings across the Gaza Strip.
The recovery operation in Gaza City has again drawn attention to the large number of people still listed as missing beneath buildings destroyed during the war.
A/Dh
